TUSCALOOSAWaine Bacon walked off Alabama's Thomas-Drew practice field Tuesday evening at 6 p.m., not knowing if his mother was all right following the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Bacon, a Crimson Tide safety, had not talked to his mother before practice and was hoping to get her on the phone immediately after returning to his room.
Esther Bacon, a U.S. Marshal who worked for the police department for 25 years, works in Greenbelt, Md. - approximately a half-hour away from the Pentagon, and, hopefully, out of harm's way.
Bacon was clearly concerned, but still optimistic his mother was all right. He isn't so sure about some of her friends, however, who work at the Pentagon.
Like many others, Bacon first caught word of the terrorist acts Tuesday morning.
"I woke up to watch SportsCenter and it was on ESPN and I knew something was wrong when you see that on ESPN," Bacon said.
Bacon, answering most questions by nodding his head, said the events of Tuesday have shaken everyone on the team.
"You just feel for the families of the victims," Bacon said. "You don't wake up in the morning and expect to see something like that on TV. There were a lot of lives lost and you just keep their families in your prayers."
Linebacker Victor Ellis said he woke up Tuesday, watching the various television replays of events in horror.
"You're just like, 'Wow. What were those people thinking on the plane and in the building and knowing what's about to happen,'" Ellis said. "I was really shocked and I caught chills because I kinda got scared for them and then it blew up. It was a scary moment."
Alabama went through its usual 2 1/2-hour practice Tuesday in preparation for Saturday's 4:45 p.m. game with Southern Mississippi in Birmingham.
Coach Dennis Franchione said his team was focused during the session and got a lot accomplished.
"It went pretty good," Franchione said. "A Tuesday is always a tough, hard practice in the beginning of the week. It was better than last Tuesday and much improved."
Still, it was anything but a normal practice. It was a workout that was opened with the team participating in a moment of silence.
"Everybody wanted to make sure their families are OK and we certainly share all of those thoughts with our players and our coaches and their families and everybody else and their families," Franchione said.
The SEC is expected to decide today if this weekend's games will be canceled.
The league's athletics directors met on a conference call Tuesday originally for another matter. Instead, commissioner Roy Kramer instructed all athletics directors to discuss plans for this week's games and decide if they wish to play.
Franchione said his team has to press on as if they are going to play until they are told otherwise.
"We have to proceed forward as if there is going to be a game on Saturday and be ready to play," Franchione said. "If there's any change in that matter, we'll have to react to it after that. But right now we have to push forward."
The players admit that is something hard to do when they see their country under siege.
"There's a lot of people who died (Tuesday) for no reason at all," tailback Ahmaad Galloway said.
"It puts football in perspective," added Ellis. "Life is first. You put football on the back burner and pray for those families."
